'Star Wars"

The popular movie ‘Star Wars’ is back, episode 3 this time. There have been lots of advertising, and I noticed my friends around me always asked “Have you seen Star Wars 3 yet?” When I was a kid, I thought those weapons in the movie were craps ( yeah I was young and stupid ) but then I found out that the American / World military are adding more and more similar like weapons to their arsenals lately. The airborne laser for instance.

The movie reminds people about the space race. The atomic bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki sparked Cold War between United States and Soviet Union. The challenge for both nations after the WW2 was developing ICBM to reach its enemy’s cities or military bases.

The Soviets launched a satellite called ‘Sputnik 1’ in 1957. They went on to launch a series of Sputnik satellites. 'Sputnik 2' carried a dog into space. The Soviets were winning the space race, they launched the first manned space rocket 'Soviet Vostok 1' with a cosmonaut. America started to catch up with Soviet, they responded by putting the first American in space.

The Soviets won most of the milestones and both nations also suffered tragedies. They continued the space race to the moon. America won this by putting 2 men to reach the moon on 20 July 1969 and first man to orbit the moon in the Command Module. Soviets didn’t put a man on the moon but a number of unmanned robots were to the moon. The America, thus won the space race. The Cold War continued until the collapse of the Soviet Union’s economy and the break-up of the Soviet Union.

The Americans have been dominating the space since then. But did the Americans really win the race during the Cold War by landing on moon or a studio? Look at the evidence and decide yourself.